The invention relates to a device for actuating a valve, comprising a casing, said casing exhibiting a transparent region and said casing preferentially having been formed from an upper part and a lower part, a transmission assembly, an electric motor and a base board for attaching electrical components.
Technical Field
Valves are employed in pipeline systems in order to regulate the flow of fluids. Ball valves, butterfly valves, inclined-seat valves, diaphragm valves etc., for example, are employed for this purpose. Such valves find application, for instance, in the chemical process industry, for the treatment of water, in power stations, for cooling applications or control applications etc. Valves of such a type can be controlled manually, pneumatically or electrically. In automatically controlled plants, electrically driven valves are preferred. The valves can be regulated centrally and are driven by means of an actuating device which exhibits an electric motor which actuates the valve via a transmission.
Discussion
Such electric drive units are known from the state of the art. DE 103 22 832 B4 discloses an electric drive unit for a valve with manual actuation. The position of the valve is apparent by virtue of a transparent cover in the electric drive unit. Through the transparent cover a position indicator can be discerned which, on the basis of the position of the valve, for example open or closed, points in the corresponding direction where the corresponding position has been marked. This means that the position indicator rotates into the corresponding position or, via the transmission, is revolved jointly like the shut-off element of the valve and has then been appropriately aligned with a possible inscription “open” or “closed”.
In this case it is disadvantageous that in a poorly illuminated space the position indicator can barely be discerned, and also the position of the valve cannot be discerned from a great distance.